There are many paths to adding value to carbohydrates from the simple thermal treatments—combustion, gasification, pyrolysis, and liquefaction—to enzymatic processes. In the former, energy is the goal or simple molecules like hydrogen and CO that can be used to as a feedstock leading to methanol, olefins, methane, diesel, etc. In the latter, the principal target molecules are alcohols—ethanol, butanol—for fuel. The major cost factors of the sugar-to-alcohol process include feedstock, enzyme, and fermentation. Fermentation is an inherently inefficient process in which maximum carbon yields of better than 50% are difficult to achieve.
There is thus a need for providing alternative methods for the valorization of carbohydrates. Moreover, there is a need for providing methods that would overcome at least one of the drawbacks of the methods found in the prior art.